


finger on the trigger

by cherrytreebridge



Category: Amnesty - Fandom, The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, damn that was fun wasnt it, spoilers for ep 28, this fic is just a bunch of feelings i didnt know i had for pigeon wilson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 10:37:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19060936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrytreebridge/pseuds/cherrytreebridge
Summary: "i don't think Ned wants to be the cause of anyone else getting hurt.so...it hits Ned."





	finger on the trigger

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is inspired by/semi-compliant with "the secret garden", a fic by thor20/taako-waititi !! check it out if you haven't

The dinner plate slips from Pigeon Wilson’s hands, egg noodles and beef tips splattering on the kitchen floor. Across the tile, on the TV at the other end of her trailer, Ned Chicane’s face stares at her with blank eyes and utters a terrifying call to action: 

“I will be there, armed and ready to defend my home. Will you?”

Pigeon takes two steps backwards, reaches behind her and grabs the phone off the wall, dialing a number she doesn’t even have to look at the keypad for. Her eyes are still on the TV, now static, as it ring thrice and then picks up.

“It’s Pigeon Wilson,” she says, before the Hornet on the other end can ask. “Is Hollis there?”

“They were just out-” he replies, and Pigeon hears a door slam. He speaks again, but not to Pigeon. “Yeah, she’s on the line. Do you want-”

The door slams again. “Hollis said they’ll be there in a little bit.”

Pigeon relaxes, unsure when she got so tense. “Thanks,” she sighs, then hangs up. 

A motorcycle roars up into the clearing just as Pigeon was wiping the last of the gravy up off the tile. Hollis cuts the engine and thumps up the steps, raising their hand to knock only to watch the door swing wide open. Pigeon swoops them into a hug. 

“Pidge,” Hollis protests patiently, but their sister only presses her head into Hollis’ shoulder. 

“Knew you’d been fuckin’ around with monsters,” Pigeon said. “I just had’a see your face.”

 

Ten minutes later, Hollis was sitting on Pigeon’s futon, sipping on a tea done up just the way they like, while their sister stands again in the kitchen pouring boiling water over their own cup of peppermint leaves. Hollis never expected to get so much information about the monster hunt out of Pigeon, but she knew so much more than she let on. Hollis adds little bits about what they know, but it’s less concrete details and more just proof that the Pine Guard was lying to them this whole time, until just now, with Ned.

“I think I told ya that story, how I almost shot Duck Newton ‘cause I was so scared a’ whatever in the forest that night?” Pigeon said, stirring sugar into their tea. Hollis listened quietly. “I dunno if I ever got the chance to mention the waterpark, but I knew about that too. I was there, and I knew Duck knew somethin’ was up, asked him if they was lookin’ for more help. Though I’d get in on the ground floor, know what’s goin’ on. He never got back to me, yaknow? Then the attack on the Hornet’s Nest-”

“Which was when I finally realized whatever was up affected us too, and decided to take it down myself,” Hollis interjected.

Pigeon gave a little half-smile. “Awful brave of ya, but listen. I don’t want you out huntin’ what goes bump in the night. You saw Ned on TV?”

“I did,” Hollis said, “As I was on my way back to the nest I saw it.”

“Scared the shit out of me. This is big, Hollis. I’m scared - scared for you, and for me. For Kepler. Whatever one of those things that tried’a kill Pete came out of this here arch in the woods… what the hell else could come through?”

At this, Hollis bolts up from their seat, nearly spilling the tea in their lap. “That’s exactly why the Hornets are out fightin’! Pidge, I’m scared too. I got friends who’re dead now.” They took a breath to steady themselves. “The last thing we need to do now is turn tail and run. You heard Ned - we oughta get out there and fight.”

“How’re we supposed to do that, Hollis?” Pigeon demanded. “You and me, we’re a couple’a kids. No way neither us could take down something like what seems to be wanderin’ around the forest.”

“Maybe not alone.” Hollis’ hand swings out to the now-off television, where Ned Chicane’s face was an hour and a half ago. “But we got a whole town, Pidge. And ya got me. And I got the Hornets.”

Pigeon watches them, nodding slowly.

“You always been there for me. Lemme be the one protectin’ you this time, huh?”

Pigeon’s nodding grows quicker, her eyes close. Her mind’s been made up. “Alright. But I ain’t no good in a fight, yaknow.”

Hollis tilts their head. “You got a shotgun, dontcha?”

__________________

But now Pigeon’s got a Hornet jacket over her shoulders - it’s one of Hollis’, and it’s a little big on her - and she’s got her shotgun pressed into her shoulder and resting in her shaky hands. Her left foot is in front of the other, her right eye staring down the barrel, finger still on the trigger, arm aching where the kick came back to hit her, ears ringing from the shot echoing off the trees, breath fogging in the rapidly cooling night air. 

Pigeon doesn’t think about her conversation with Hollis, or about how ironic it is the first time she came in contact with these abominations she nearly took out Duck. She isn’t thinking anything at all, actually, because the crowd is completely silent around her and there’s static in her head just like the TV that night. 

The monster looks like it could’ve been human in another life - it’s got a pair of rolled-up blue jeans and a green flannel that’s ripped around it’s arms. Unkempt blonde hair whips around in a frenzy, standing up straight on the ends like there’s too much static. But it’s the face that gives it away as a monster, an abomination; orange eyes are watching the body below it like a predator, fangs so big they’re falling out of its mouth as it bares its teeth. There’s a familiar, burly looking man pulling the monster away. Mama runs over and drops to her knees next to the body it was attacking, yells a name and points at someone to get help. 

And the body… it’s a stocky man in a pair of slacks and a jacket that doesn’t quite match. He’s got a beard greying with age and a wrinkles from years of mischievous smiles. There’s a vintage Cryptonomica pin on his lapel. 

It’s Ned Fucking Chicane.

She doesn’t see Hollis’ head turn to look at her, mouth agape in what might be described as dawning horror. She doesn’t hear the other voices start talking in low whispers, she doesn’t hear Mama’s voice with almost a hint of fear, of panic. She doesn’t notice Aubrey Little come back through the gate and see her friend on the ground. 

Pigeon Wilson stares ahead at the body on the ground, and in the back of her mind she hears Duck Newton telling her to put the down the gun before someone gets hurt.


End file.
